| Doors: 6 pm | Show: 7pm | Tickets: 69.90 Euro + fees |

[Dajana] HEILUNG is an incredibly intense band that spreads the true nature of Norse mythology without ever coming across as cheesy, ridiculous or overdone. It is known that HEILUNG delve deeply into old papyrus rolls, books, and other outlets to discover original texts, poetry, songs, instruments and recipes they process into their live rituals. Rarely has a live ceremony touched so many people deeply. I've seen it twice now, how HEILUNG's music almost hypnotizes the fans and even made some of them fell into a trance. HEILUNG doesn't play a show, HEILUNG celebrate a ritual that is beyond what you usually get on stage. HEILUNG tells a story with a constantly building arc of suspense and thrill, which culminates in pure ecstasy at the finale.

[Dajana] After their amazing tour last winter (live report here), HEILUNG return to Germany again for just one show this year (as a kick-off to their European festival tour), and this one is taking place at the wonderful :: Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen ::. Here we already had been able to experience a breathtaking Nordic Night, featuring Wardruna and Eivør a.o. last year. And also HEILUNG brought great guests to the Amphitheater. First of all the enchanting Amalie Bruun aka MYRKUR and the musically exceptional Swiss fusionists ZEAL & ARDOR. This package put into this special venue once again promised an extraordinary live experience.

[Dajana] But it didn't turn out to be a flawless evening. As it happened at the mentioned Wardruna show last year, there were many organizational problems this year too. The HEILUNG concert was initially announced for Saturday, July 29th and was supposed to be something of a one-day festival until it was realized that the Saturday was already taken. Luckily, it was possible to move the show directly to Sunday - just without the festival approach. A similar picture emerged at the entrance: kilometers of queues and an entrance time that was much, much too late, so that thousands of fans who had traveled far for tonight's spectacle missed MYRKUR.

[Psycho] No wonder! Not only the day but also the opening time was pushed back. Instead of announced 4:30 pm now to 6 pm, one hour before the start of the first show. Since this time was not kept either (gates actually opened around 6:15), this could not work at all for more than 6000 people. Impudence, because fans were deprived of a part of the paid concert experience, without having to blame themselves.

[BRT] Disastrously organized! There was a lot of anger among the numerous fans who stood in the endlessly long queues for well over an hour. Well, actually one should have learned something like that by now.

[Dajana] In addition, the last day of July showed its wet side. At a cool 18°C it rained increasingly more over the evening. Since the wind also picked up quite a bit, there were no backdrops from the beginning, later even parts of the stage decoration had to be cleared away or were carried away by the wind. At least there were no thunderstorms. And, as experienced amphitheater festival goers, the NH crew is up to any weather challenge ;)

:: pics :: MYRKUR ::

[Dajana] :: MYRKUR :: started this memorable evening with a slight delay. The Dane presented a purely folkloric set that, in addition to the stand-alone single Dronning Ellisiv, only contained songs from the 2020 album Folkesange. So it was a rather quiet set. That's despite being accompanied by a drummer, two backing singers (who also played bones and tambourines), a cellist, and Heilung's Christopher Juul (who looked like he'd just been dragged off the sofa) on stringed instruments. Personally, I thought that was a bit of a pity, since MYRKUR can also do quite different.

[Psycho] True, that was very calm because some tracks were presented even more subdued and slower than on CD. But there was something about it too, and I actually found it very pleasant and appropriate. I found the group of accompanying musicians surprisingly large - I wouldn't have been surprised, if MYRKUR had stood alone on the stage. But this way it was of course musically more variable and had more depth. Really a very nice concert, which suffered a little from the movement in the round caused by the visitors who had only just entered the area. But at least it wasn't raining...

[BRT] The black metal roots of the American Dane (or vice versa) were left out today; instead, the Folk was put in the foreground, and, in interaction with the stage decoration, resulted in a very atmospheric show. In addition, the woman has an outstanding voice, which comes into its own much better with reduced sounds than with full riot noise. With House Carpenter there was also a Scottish folk-traditional classic. My favorite of the evening, for sure.

Band: Amalie Bruun
Setlist: Ramund, Fager Som En Ros, Leaves Of Yggdrasil, Dronning Ellisiv, Harpens Kraft, House Carpenter, Tor I Helheim, Ella

:: pics :: ZEAL & ARDOR ::

[Dajana] So far I haven't been able to make friends with :: ZEAL & ARDOR ::. I had liked one or the other song so far, I also find the combination of Black Metal and Gospel as weird as it is unique, but the albums in their entirety could not really grab me so far. And I hadn't seen ZEAL & ARDOR live before. But when the Swiss thundered off with Church Burns, it almost blew my head off. I couldn't stand still for a second and tried desperately to get sharp photos anyway, because all the actors on stage were also going crazy.
ZEAL & ARDOR played with brute force - a total contrast to Myrkur and also later to Heilung. But that to me was really a lot of fun despite the rain. However, I think the songs always end way too abruptly. In return, I really liked the three-singer vocals and occasionally felt reminded of Hozier, especially on the opener Church Burns (compared to Take Me To Church).

[Psycho] The band had also interested me so far rather peripherally, which will remain so after the gig. The vocals were indeed something different, but apart from that, it all sounded too much like big-balls-Metal, which I never got into. Objectively speaking, the Swiss were really well received, but regardless of my personal taste, they were blatantly miscast in this constellation - which they themselves also saw that way (according to some announcements).

[BRT] A likeable band that managed to piss off some black metal traditionalists in their early days, because they dared to mix black metal with gospel vocals and bollo guitars. What an outrage. It came out really well live and was extremely entertaining. Manuel Gagneux has a fantastic voice. Overall, the bollo parts were a bit too overdriven and drowned out a lot of what was actually quite a varied sound. On CD, however, this mixture cannot convince 100% either, or hold the level high over 45 minutes. But live it was fun. The Devil Is Fine is a hit before the Lord... the hail fucking Satan!

[Dajana] Yes, it seems I have to sit down and take my time to deal a little more intensively with the band and their music ;)

Band: Manuel Gagneux (git, vox), Tiziano Volante (git), Lukas Kurmann (bass), Marco von Allmen (drums), Denis Wagner (vox), Marc Obrist (vox)
Setlist: Intro, Church Burns, Götterdämmerung, Blood In The River, Run, We Can't Be Found, Death To The Holy, Don't You Dare, Satisfactory Lucifer, Feed The Machine, Baphomet

:: pics :: HEILUNG ::

[Dajana] :: HEILUNG :: were about a quarter of an hour late or so, so we feared that the band would have to shorten their set, since the plug in the amphitheater is pulled at 11 pm sharp. Fortunately, it didn't happen. The opening ceremony was kept shorter, and the ensemble didn't wait until the crowd was dead quiet. In general, the set list was shorter than in previous ceremonies.

[Psycho] Up until now I only knew some HEILUNG videos and of course some of their recordings. Thus, I was not at least prepared for the following...
The show cannot be compared with a normal concert, but rather with a completely choreographed production. I can't judge whether it really originates from Nordic mythology as authentically as I don't have any specialist knowledge, but it was fascinating to watch at! In any case, e.g. YouTube videos or CDs do not even begin to reflect the atmosphere that is created live by the music and the varied happenings. In this context, the (rental) drummers deserve a special mention, as their exalted style created a very intense dynamic. Visually, the whole thing was also extremely varied: almost every musician played different roles, and more extras were brought onto the stage again and again.
So, no comparison with any kind of recorded music, HEILUNG definitely picked me up live more than I would have expected beforehand. Great concert, I would love to see that again! But then please without rain...

[BRT] HEILUNG live for the second time - the spectacle can only inspire me again to a limited extent. There's no question that it's nice to look at, has its hypnotic moments and sometimes really grabs you. But I'm missing a good song, a really captivating atmosphere like Wardruna or... I just don't know. Somehow, the spectacle covers a lot that is just mediocre musically. Good, good - it was fun to watch the drummers. The idea that the first music of prehistoric men might have sounded like this is also quite exciting. But at some point, it got tough...

[Dajana] That was probably due to the heavy rain that started now and the wind picking up. If the rain runs in everywhere, one lacks the leisure to fully engage in such a spectacle. Soaking wet, we left the round and headed towards home before the grand final and the closing ceremony.

Band: Maria Franz, Kai Uwe Faust, Christopher Juul
Setlist: Opening Ceremony, In Maidjan, Alfadhirhaiti, Krigsgaldr, Hakkerskaldyr, Svanrand, Norupo, Othan, Traust, Asja, Anoana, Elddansurin, Hamrer Hippyer, Closing Ceremony
Warriors: Bella (fire dancer, warrior), Alex (drums), Emilie (vox, warrior), Martin (warrior), Annicke (vox), Jacob (drums), Mira (vox), Nicolas (drums),

[Dajana] Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the concert evening though. I finally got to see MYRKUR and ZEAL & ARDOR live, both of which I loved, and I didn't have to queue for miles (thankfully for being a photographer). I have to say that HEILUNG work much better in a hall, I think, because then the light show comes into its own much better (and you don't get distracted by weather conditions).

Many thanks to Kingstar Music for the press accreditation :)

Story • Psycho, BRT, Dajana • Pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography